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Sumbawa hosts the second Rip Curl GromSearch Indo

Interview : photo Thain

Rip Curl GromSearch Indo

Sumbawas Lakey Peak Hosts the 2nd Event of Rip Curl GromSearch 2007

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 30 March, 2007 : - - Saturday morning dawned with no rain and semi-clean low tide conditions, giving the Rip Curl team riders a chance to surf before setting up for the comp. Pepen, One, Sammy, Dedi Gun and Fesi paddled out in the 2-3 foot surf at Lakey Peak, checking it out at the various tides.

Later that night everyone gathered at the Aman Gati Inn, where contestants learned about environmental issues with the help of booklets from GUS (Gelombang Udara Segar), after which Dedi went over the competition rules.

Sunday morning revealed solid 3- and 4-foot sets hitting the reef at Lakey Peak while all the kids busy waxing their board with Mothers Milk wax. It was decided that the Under 16 division would be held during rising tide at Lakey Peak, while the Under 14 would be held at Lakey Pipe during high tide making it safer and more surfable for the smaller and less experienced groms.

The first heat of the 16 Under got underway at 8:45 am with some solid surfing by Tia Mustawan (Bali) and Mariano (Lombok), getting them into the Semi over fellow competitors Firman (Sumbawa) and Adi (Lombok). Heat 2 saw Rip Curls One Anwar with a strong backside attack, hitting the lip as hard as possible and gouging deep cutbacks to win the heat and advance along with Agus Firmanto (Bali), who threw up his fair share of spray as well.

Heat 3 had Gazali Hamzah (Sumbawa) going up against Putra Hermanwan (Nusa Lembongan), leaving Rizal Umami and Sahir (Lombok) with a very tough heat. The two Lombok boys gave it a good effort, but in the end the more experienced riders got the higher scores and advanced to the Semi Finals. Heat 4 was to have 3 contestants but since only Mukhlis Jafar (Sumbawa) and Baharudin (Lombok) showed up, they advanced to the Semi Finals without even paddling out!

With no barrels to be had, Semifinal 1 was a contest of who could gouge the deepest bottom turn, hit the lip the hardest, and find a section to float over. The judges decided that One Anwar and Agus Firmanto did the best job of the four, so it was on to the Final for them and back to the beach for Tia and Mariono.

Semifinal 2 had local Gazali Hamzah pulling out all the stops, using his front side advantage and local knowledge to advance to the Final with Putra Hermawan and his well-honed backside attack.

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After a 15-minute break, the boys paddled out to do battle in the Final. Agus drew first blood, followed by Putra Hermawan, but One and Gazali stayed patient and ended up getting some of the bigger and more rippable waves.

One kept coming up under the lip and taking the tops right off, while Gazali lined up a couple of amazing re-entrys in addition to his own version of lip smacking. All the boys were really giving it, but in the end it was Ones day, with his brother Gazali in the number 2 spot followed by Putra Hermawan and Agus Fremanto. So there you have it, two brothers taking the top two spots at their home break, and the crowd was very proud of their extended family!

Leon Suandhi, ISC head judge for the competition said, This is a great place for young surfers to live and learn to surf, and you can see how good they are already! Its no surprise that although its a small community, already several of the older boys like Dedi Gun, Gazali and Joey Barrel have traveled overseas to surf. And One is going to Australia for the first time in just a few days! Its really good to see.

The Finalists received trophies and goody bags from Rip Curl & Creatures of Leisure, as well as the 1st place winner in the 16 Under division received two plane tickets to Bali, thanks to SUrF TRaVeL ONLiNe & Merpati Airlines.

There he and a friend of his choice will join Rip Curls 1-week training camp and the GromSearch Series National Final at Keramas in October. Special thanks to Harris Resort Kuta  Bali, Merpati Airlines, Surf Tech, X-fins, Creatures of Leisure, Mothers Milk, GUS Foundation, Trax Magazine, Surf Time Magazine, ISC, SUrF TRaVeL ONLiNe and Aman Gati Hotel for making this possible.